Registration Advice

Hi all,
I'm hoping to travel to Australia from Ireland in June 2011 for a year to travel & hopefully work as a physio. Just wondering if I get a working holiday visa what type of registration do I need to get to allow me to obtain employment?Ideally want to do whatever is quickest and hassle free!!!Do I need to complete exams to do this? Ive been on the physio council website but am totally confused!Would working in New Zealand first make it less complicated to get registration in Australia or does this still apply??Any help or info would be fantastic!Thanks!

Hi Eire2011

I am in a similar situation to yourself (Irish physio heading to Australia May 2011 all going well) and I've found some other entries on the forum quite useful. In particular the entry re: Limited registration if you wanted to look at that. I've decided to use this type of registration to allow me to work. Check out the APC website at Forms — and click the link for application form for limited registration in the public interest. For this type of reg you do need to secure a job offer but then full reg requires you do theory and practical exams which for the relatively short time you want to work in Australia really isn't worth it. That's how I see it anyhow.

A working holiday visa (subclass 417) should be the visa appropriate for you if you intend to stay 12 months or less. You can read about the specific conditions of it on the Aus immigration website Department of Immigration & Citizenship

Registering in NZ also an option but there is a declaration in the application to say that you are seeking employment in NZ. There are some other entries on the forum that discuss this if you have a look.

Hope some of this helps. Would be great to know how you get on or maybe you'll find out some other useful info in your info searching...it's not easy!!

Aoife

Thanks so much Aoife!!!That's made things so much clearer...seemed to be going around in circles before this!are you having any luck on the job searching hunt or have you started yet?will keep you posted if I get info which may be helpful. Thanks again!

Oh stop I'd been going around in circles until now as well. It's since the new national registration has come in in July 2010 that there doesn't seem to be as many people with experience of it. Any contacts I had in Oz had registered via the old state-by-state reg. Only starting the job hunt now but am hopeful. Fingers crossed and sure be in touch!

Hi AoifeL and Ire11

Im so glad i was not the only one who found all this registration confusing!
Just wondering how long have you both been qualified? I have been working over a year now but doing locum/bank/temp within MSK, community and Elderly care/medical.
Do you think this is enough to get on over to oz?
Im desperate to go later this year too, let me know if you have any luck with jobs would love to know how you get on with it all. I think i am going to start emailing various hospitals/practices to see whats out there :)

All ther best, will keep you posted
x

Hi Raglan86

I empathise with you on finding it all confusing!! I'm qualified (scarily) almost 5 years now but have been working in the same place so I'm basically looking towards Australia to gain a different experience for a time. I'm in the midst of contacting hospitals/clinics at the moment as well and I think that's your best bet or put the call out to any of your own contacts/colleagues/classmates you may have over there working. There seems to be alot of work in private practice but you may need more than a year's experience for those.

A good jobs website is www.seek.com.au. There are also lots of recruitment agencies though the one I made contact with would prefer for me to have full reg rather than be looking for job offer to gain temp reg....but I guess that would make their job easier!!

Best of luck with it!
Aoife

Hi guys - I am reassured also that Im not the only one - felt a bit overwhelmed by all the info..!

Was just wondering how you are getting on with your applications? I am keen to do the same this time next year.. How long does it take to get the visa processed and how long do you anticipate the registration process to take?

Do you have to get a sponsor sorted before you can become registered?

Huge thanks :)

Hi Daisy

I'm afraid it's still kind of overwhelming :-( There is alot of paperwork to get through and you have to work on the job offer first if it's limited registration you're after. I'm reconsidering again that maybe applying for reg in NZ first to get full Oz reg may be the way to go. A couple of recruitment agencies I've been in touch with have said it would be easier for them if I did it that way. The NZ form is a very long one too but if you know someone who's done it already it's half the battle apparently.

I would say the sooner you get started the better. Limited reg requires you get a job offer, then you need to be assessed by the APC (their website says it takes 4 weeks). Once you get that you finally register with the Physiotherapy Board of Australia which I'm not sure how long it takes. I haven't gotten an offer as such yet so haven't started yet. Getting the working holiday visa is the easy part...it only took maybe 2 weeks online application at most to get and then you have a year to use it. A potential employer I was speaking to at the weekend says they're crying out for physios in South Australia but practices have spent so much money on advertising with no results that it's not worth their whille anymore. Physically being out in Oz going through the process might be alot easier too if you had that option.

Hope this helps
Aoife

PS Ire2011 and raglan86 how are you guys getting on?? Faring any better than myself??

hi all
have any of you been qualified for more than 10 years?
i graduated in 97 and am daunted by the prospect of getting the info required from my old uni.
anyone else in the same boat?

Hi Alfie
I'm out 5 years and my uni had sufficient info on the curriculum, etc. I'm sure if you rang your physiotherapy school they'll have had a similar request from other colleagues of yours. Your work experience may well bump up the application as well! Sorry I'm of no further help.
Aoife

thanks aoife
am starting to wade through what seems like hundreds of documents etc from the NZ reg, and will attempt to start collating info.
alfie

Hi guys!
Ive found this this thread really useful since I started trying to get myself sorted for oz, but Ive a few questions if any of you can help; Is limited registration still limited to certain states (NSW/VIC etc) or is it now for all of them as its been made statewide? When applying for your work visa what hospitals do you say you're going to be entering when you don't know where you're going to be working (and to apply for jobs you need a visa)? Do you really have to get a full medical/HIV/Hep B+C test along with the chest Xray as apart of the visa requirements as there seems to be lots of conflicting info about this?!

Any help anyone could give would be brilliant, I feel like Im drowning in forms!:)

Hi Laura
Regarding the medical stuff I had been under the impression we had to undergo all of that as well as part of the visa conditions but I got mine granted without any condition. I even contacted the London office of Aus Immigration to make sure and they said if I was granted it then that was it. I don't know about the states with/without limited reg as I assumed it was statewide with the new national board...sorry!
All the paperwork is pretty frustrating and you begin to think if it's worth it sometimes...they really don't make it easy!!
Good luck with it!!
Aoife

PS I didn't state any hospital on visa application just said I was a physio searching for work so didn't know yet

Hi Aoife,
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you..have been looking at alot of jobs online & all seem to require full registration so like yourself am now thinking I might be going the NZ route..so much extra work but not looking likely to get jobs with limited registration. In relation to Laura's question re:medical I rang a visa company directly & unless you have a job arrnaged prior to going you should not need to get a medical. They did however say that individual hospitals etc.may make you get one, once offered a job in Australia. Hope this helps! :)

Hi guys

Growing increasingly frustrated with the job search process from over here at home I'm afraid :( My hope is now maybe if I get out there that on locating myself somewhere in Aus that one will be able to approach practices/clinics/hospitals personally and demonstrate employability from there. One less thing to worry about if we don't have to get medicals until we get there anyhow..thanks for advice there!

Best of luck to you all!
Aoife

Hi there,

I am also hoping to go and work in Australia at the end of the summer (if I can get anything sorted out by then!!), for a year.

I have been in contact with agencies and possible sponsors. However the sponsors have been out into the country and I was hoping to do more agency type work so I can live and work in Melbourne and spend some time travelling around Australia at the same time.

From this, the agencies have said they are unable to find work unless you are already registered, and they have suggested getting NZ reg and trans-tasmal recognition so you can still work in Australia.

However, I have now spent a lot of hours looking through the NZ registration and still don't know where to start! There are some examples on another forum post about the NZ reg process but I think the forms have changed since March 2011 so it's all a bit different now.

I just wondered if anyone was going through the same process as me and had managed to make any sort of attempt at starting the application forms?

Thanks,
Anna

Hi Anna

As someone who is just about to head to Australia (in 10 days!) and have been trying to secure work there with limited Aus registration I would definitely recommend pursuing the NZ registration rather than going the route I'm going. It might seem daunting but worth it for all the effort I've been putting in to get work I'm sorry I didn't do it. Once you get NZ reg and then apply for Aus reg it'll be full reg and there'll be so many more job opportunities available to you.

Best of luck with your application.
Aoife

Hi Guys,

We run an APC Clinical Exams course that is designed to prepare oversea Physiotherapists for the Physiotherapy professional entry registration (Australia).
This course has been designed for overseas physiotherapists who have successfully completed the APC theory examination. Our aim is to prepare you for the APC clinical assessments. By sharing our experiences, we will demystify the process and help you to gain the most from your study sessions, enabling you to demonstrate your true clinical skills on the day.

The course is broken down into 4 easy to digest sections;

• How to Workshop
• Musculoskeletal
• Neuro
• Cardio Respiratory

Venue: The University of Notre Dame Australia, Building no 46 (on the corner of Philimore and Henry streets) Fremantle, Western Australia 6959

Duration: 3 days (Friday 3 October – Sunday 5 October)

For more information follow the below link or email [email protected]. We are happy to help with any questions. :D
APC Clinical Exam Preparation for Physiotherapists